Victory or Defeat
by otherrealmwriter
Summary: Takes place after Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom. Dib's brought down the Massive and saved Earth from the Irken Empire. So why does it feel so hollow? And why is Zim okay with it? Oneshot


**I don't own Invader Zim okay? I have had a lot brewing in my mind playing with what happens after the scene in "Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom" after he brings down The Massive. Like what happened to the Tallest and the like but I got this idea for a oneshot here. Anyway, enough of this A/N, on with the fic!**

Dib brushed the desert sands off his chest and held the new "Greatest Person Ever To Live" award as he headed down to the basement of his labs. He had done it. He saved the planet from an alien invasion and everyone loved him for it. Gaz was working with him to save Earth and he had a line of girls around the block that would love to spend five minutes on his arm before being replaced by someone else. But this was the moment he wanted since he won his battle against the Armada. He kicked open the door to the room he kept Zim in and stormed up to the tube. "Guess this little ET will never phone home? Not when I brought down their empire." Dib said.

"Really proud of that shiny metal thing on your chest now? Like that thing somehow fills the void left in your pitiful soul left by a childhood of parental abandonment and taunting of your peers?" Zim said looking up from the magazine he had been given, an old copy of 'Psychology Today'

"It will do you no good now. Your leaders are in exile! And I doubt that the Irken Empire will stand much longer with the crippling of their capitol ship by a race that is considered inferior by most of their subjects." Dib said as he stared in Zim's eyes.

"More like just turn their rage towards Meekrob now because it will get out what they did. No way a human could have done it on their own. And there were intergalactic treaties in place preventing modification of human DNA." Zim said, "Kind of like your Endangered Species Act."

Dib's face fell. This was the alien who wanted to use him to experiment. Wanted to put his organs on the outside. The one who wanted to destroy him and conquer the planet. Like the Tallest, any sort of interstellar wildlife preserve that Earth was made out to be wouldn't have stopped him. Was Zim just putting this act on? Acting like he was actually accepting defeat just to ruin Dib's triumph? It just wasn't right. Dib scowled into the glass. He had done so much and he was only 32 at this point. Most of their Skoolmates had barely gotten a promotion at the retail and fast food joints they ended up working at. And here he was, the one they belittled, wedgied, ignored and tormented on top of the world as the savior of humanity. And the little green alien that just added fuel to his fire was staring at him like nothing mattered and that this victory was none of his concern. The fact his people's empire was now collapsing around him was just that. Nothing. "Still trying to fight me by making my great achievement seem like nothing?"

"Nope." Zim sighed. "I just saw a lot in the 20 years I have been kept here. I mean it's a lot of time just to observe. Went for nothing but apparently I still haunt you. You're obsessed with me. And you're turning into your father."

"And throwing that old saying that every young adult dreads!" Dib laughed. "You really are desperate!"

"Well you certainly have the same oblivious brilliance." Zim said rolling his eyes. "You know I was always amazed that man never saw me for what I was if he was the best your planet could offer."

The door creaked open behind him. A girl with long brown hair looked over to him. "Ummmm Dibby, you okay in there? You said we'd go to the French Rivera once you beat the Irkens."

"Later, we'll go. I just have things to do here." Dib said as he cast a stream of blue sparks and shut the door in front of the girl.

"She seems nice. Girlfriend number... what is it up to at this point...777?" Zim laughed.

"It's not that high." Dib said looking at Zim. "And what does my love life have to do with you?"

"You know Gretchen liked you in Skool. She was crushed when you paid more attention to Tak. But hey, even in her human disguise Tak looked better than Gretchen so you made the better choice there." Zim said.

"Whatever. I have to go if I am going to keep her." Dib said as he got up to leave.

"Yes. You're going to need something to fill the void now that your main reason for living is done. You're 32 now huh... humans live about 80 years... so you have 50 or so years to fill and you peaked so soon." Zim said.

"Shut up!" Dib said. "I've not yet begun to rise!"

"That's what she said." Zim laughed.

"Real mature, how old are we here?" Dib said.

"Mature or no, I'm right." Zim smirked as Dib headed out of the room.

 _I haven't peaked. No way. I have much more time to do great things._ But as the days went by, Zim seemed to have a point. He was called to every talk show the planet had, awarded the Nobel Peace Prize as well for his accomplishments at the UN as the world looked at him. Professor Membrane had said that Dib had finally made him proud to have him as a son and that he was sorry for how he rejected his theories that showed brilliance at such a young age. Gaz offered to help him with anything he needed. They were a happy family now, even if the whole Membrane clan were now adults. It was all he wanted. Happy family, being acknowledged he was right and to be loved by the people he was trying to protect. And for a time afterwards, it was all he wanted it to be. But it got old. One could only be stopped for an autograph so much. Your name in lights lost the allure the millionth time you've seen it. The autobiography sales didn't make up for the truth that he had to admit lie in the pages. Saving the world was a farce. The euphoria of victory had faded as time went on. Eventually he would go on a lecture tour about astrobiological life, leaving his new family alone as they didn't fill the void much either. They felt more like he had to have them to be normal. _Maybe this is why Dad didn't spend a lot of time with us growing up. We were just what he had to have to feel normal..._ Dib thought as he waved goodbye and headed to Arecibo, Puerto Rico.

"Ah, Dr Membrane, glad to see you!" The head scientist said as he met Dib at the airport. "We've been wanting to speak with you about trying again to translate some of these signals. You had some experience with talking to Irkens and translating their writing and we figured if we could use that, it might work better rather than our binary-" Dib cut him off.

"We'll talk in the morning. I'm tired after that flight." He said as he headed to the hotel.

"Are you sure? We've been awaiting the Great Dib for this project for a long time. Your publicist said you were booked for a long time and wouldn't have much here." The scientist said.

"I'll fire her then." He said. "I need this." He headed up to his hotel room and looked over the balcony to the mountains where the radio telescope lay. There was a time where he'd want to hunt for Chupacabras in the lush jungle forests and the stars contained all the mysteries anyone could ever want. But those days of wonder and discovery were gone. All behind him. He picked up his phone and called his labs. "I don't care how unorthodox it sounds, put me through to Zim! Now! I'm the boss there! I'm the one signing the paychecks! Do what I say." He lay on the bed staring at the ceiling fan tapping his hand on the bed beside him until a familiar voice spoke to him.

"What is it now you want, to rub it in some more?" Zim asked.

"No. You win. You were right." Dib sighed.

"What did you say?" Zim asked in disbelief.

"You were right. It was all a farce and did nothing. You won. Your people may have lost Zim but you won." Dib sighed.

"Zim always wins in the end." Zim said as Dib ended the call.

"You were right about that." Dib sighed and fell asleep.

 **So how was that? Good? Bad? Angsty? I don't know where this came from but I have been having some ideas with the Tallest after the defeat of the Massive but could never figure out something to work with it. I will love you forever if you can figure why I'd have Dib in Arecibo, Puerto Rico**. **Also, as for Dib's age, he's about 12 in the show and just before the Massive attacked in "Dib's Wonderful Life of Doom" Zim said, "20 of your years" when Dib talked to him again. And as we all know, success for all the wrong reasons can be hell. So that's where this little oneshot came from. If any of you have ideas for my Tallest fic, I'd love to hear it, I'm stuck. So remember to read (well you just did) and to review! Ciao for now,**

 **otherrealmwriter**

 **aka**

 **Realm**

 **PS: Thanks to schooling and work at the same time, updates on my multi chapter fics may be delayed a little bit so be patient please. Summer comes unemployment and free time so I will be able to write more then! I vow to bring Taboo and Minutes to Midnight to a close by the end of this year. So that' s saying something based on my lousy update habits. So alas till then~ Realm.**


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